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alywats · 4 years ago

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January 2021 Reading Wrap-Up

Here are all the books I read in January, a month of getting back into my routine after the holiday break and trying to make time for reading. Reading is my favorite hobby, but it is really hard to make time and space for it when I use all my focus and strain my eyes at the computer during the working hours of the day. So audiobooks have really been my saving grace this month. I only read a few of these books with my eyes, and the rest of them were listened to while I was cooking or driving or doing my laundry or taking a walk around the lake, and that is something that has been really valuable to me. Even though I only had “time” to sit down and read three or four books this month, I was able to read 12 with the help of audiobooks! Woohoo! Now on to my reviews for these books!

1. The Big Sleep -Raymond Chandler (231 pgs) 3

A classic "hard-boiled detective" novel which I enjoyed because of its significance in the genre. What I did not enjoy was the homophobia which, it being a product of its time, was extreme and hard to read through. First book of 2021 and we are not off to a great start!

2. Get A Life, Chloe Brown -Talia Hibbert (373pgs) 3.5

Mostly cute. There were like two or three things that made me suuuuuuper annoyed but I think they are more my issues than the book's, so I'll let it slide. Probably won't continue this series!

3. The Year of Less -Cait Flanders (189 pgs) 1.5

Okay this is the whiniest book ever, and I don't say that lightly. Ugh, I just wanted to read more about simple living and this book was 200 pages of complaining, Flanders not really consuming less, and no actual info about simple living or being a sustainable consumer.

4. The Invention of Sound -Chuck Palahniuk (240 pgs) 3

The first half was so good... and then I got kinda lost. At this point the real question is how many Palahniuk books will I read and think are mediocre before I finally read Fight Club...

5. Writers & Lovers -Lily King (320 pgs) 4

This book is really good for a lot of writer-y things and a lot of lover-y things. But my fav part? When there is a math band in the cafeteria called "The Cosines".

6. Wild -Cheryl Strayed (315 pgs) 4

I loved A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, so it's no surprise that I was into this book too. It is a bit cliche to be inspired by this book, but it's cliche for a reason, this journey is inspiring, the personal growth and discovery is inspiring. I also just loved the descriptions of Ashland, Crater Lake, Mt. Hood, and the Columbia from Strayed's perspective. These are places and landmarks that I have grown up with, and to be reminded of how special Oregon is was definitely something I enjoyed.

7. Brave New World -Aldous Huxley (288 pgs) 3

Honestly, I don’t have a lot to say about this. There were some things that worked and some things that were not great, but mostly I was indifferent. I could not find any investment in this story or the characters, but I also didn’t ~hate~ what I was reading, so it was really a neutral reading experience for me.

8. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers -Paul Hoffman (303 pgs) 3.5

This was a biography of Erdős, notorious Hungarian mathematician, as well as a general history of some of his contemporaries and their mathematical highlights. Overall I found this book to be engaging, well-researched, and at the right level of detail, but what made this one hard for me was my immediate and intense dislike of Erdős. As a baby mathematician, I have been told that Erdős was an amazing and prolific mathematician who changed the course of mathematics, and we (mathematicians) should be aspiring to be like him. And he *was* amazing and prolific as a mathematician, but outside of mathematics, Erdős was annoying and demanding and full of entitlement, something that surprised me. The reason this bothered me, if I’m being honest, is that I feel this attitude of superiority in the mathematics community way too much. You are not of superior intelligence if you do math, you should not forget to be a well-adjusted human because you are too focused on math, and this should not be what mathematicians are striving for (I think many mathematicians would disagree with me, and that is my point). Erdős’s attitude and ethos were unhealthy at best, as they are for many ‘great’ mathematicians, and it’s hard for me to get behind the romanticized nature of “The Man Who Loved Only Numbers”, as if abandoning all other parts of life is the best/truest way to be a mathematician. It’s hard for me to care about Erdős numbers (think 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon but for math) when the idea of mathematical name-dropping is just another way to feel superior, and I leave this book feeling disconnected by the communal obsession with Erdős among mathematicians.

9. The Shining -Stephen King (659 pgs) 5

I don't think it's revolutionary to say that this is King's best work, but in case you need me to tell you, The Shining is probably Stephen King's best work. Jack Torrance freaks me out like no other, the Overlook hotel is written in such a unique and ~creepy~ way, and the supernatural elements are woven in with character study and plot development in a way that makes them feel entirely real but not the central motivation for the story.

I think a problem with a lot of sci-fi/fantasy tropes like mind-reading is that 1. it is the *only* plot device the author uses to continue the narrative so it completely overshadows characterization and the plot arc, or 2. it isn't fleshed out enough so the reader doesn't get to feel totally immersed in or believe in the supernatural world that the story is taking place in.

The Shining is the balance of these two issues, King writes the characters and the plot in a way that is simply enhanced by the supernatural elements, and he writes the supernatural elements in a way that is enhanced by Danny's character and his circumstances.

This was my second time reading The Shining, since the first time I read it I was in 7th grade. There were definitely things I picked up on the second time around, and I am really glad I read it again.

10. Ancillary Justice -Ann Leckie (416 pgs) 3

One thing I really appreciate about this book is that it is a woman's voice and commentary on gender in the sci-fi world, which is rare and valuable. Sci-fi space opera has been a genre ruled by the white man for a long time, and that means that the stories are often very reflective of that. So yeah, I am happy to have read a book in this space written by a woman.

My criticism is simply that I was bored through parts of it, and I think that's because it's not a plot or characters that resonated with me. And that's just my personal taste coming through.

11. The Bass Rock -Evie Wyld (368 pgs) 4

The Bass Rock is the interweaving tale through different periods of time in Scotland, and the way society controlled and abused these women. They accused smart women of being witches, then they lobotomized women with opinions, and on and on. This book is a commentary on violence, and oppression as violence against women, which makes it somewhat difficult to read, but the way the stories of the women overlap both in plot and in theme is so beautifully done.

12. Hamnet -Maggie O'Farrell (372 pgs) 5

Shakespeare, that mysterious bard, had a son named Hamnet who died. Is it a coincidence then, that his most emo play is of the same name? (Hamnet = Hamlet in 1590s England I guess). This novel mostly shoves William off-stage, focusing more on his wife Agnes and her experience being a daughter, a mother, a wife, and a mourner. It is a glimpse into life in the 1590s, where plague was ravaging the cities, and although 1590s life often feels very different to our 2021 life, there are a few striking similarities to be found here: grief, lockdown, the closing of theaters. This was beautifully written, and in the spirit of being dramatic, I'll say the ending took my breath away.

And I'll end with this thought: Shakespeare wrote during a time where the Black Death could not be ignored, he (probably) lost his son to it, but the plague is at most an undertone in his body of work. Instead he wrote about corruption, the failure of rulers, deception, grief, and the lust for power. Take a look into 2020s USA, and I think you'll find that Shakespeare just got a little bit more relatable.

#January reads #january wrap up #reads #booklr #books

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ao3feed-bemorechill · 5 years ago

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I now officially take oneshot requests!

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2MBJGUL

by SanderRohde

Comment down below what you want me to write!

Words: 154, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Pushing Daisies, Detentionaire (Cartoon), Miraculous Ladybug, 七つの大罪 - 鈴木央 | Nanatsu no Taizai | The Seven Deadly Sins - Suzuki Nakaba (Anime & Manga), はたらく細胞 | Hataraku Saibou | Cells at Work! (Anime), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016), Los Espookys (TV), Dispatches From Elsewhere (TV), Lucifer (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Phineas and Ferb, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension (2011), Milo Murphy's Law, Reaper (TV), Once Upon a Time (TV), Who Killed Markiplier? (Web Series), Dead Like Me, The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley, Nerds (Michael Buckley), Home (2015), The Wizard of Oz & Related Fandoms, The Good Place (TV), Upload (TV 2020), Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics), Star vs. The Forces Of Evil, Invader Zim, Something Rotten! - Kirkpatrick/Kirkpatrick/O'Farrell, Wicked - All Media Types, Welcome to Night Vale, Hazbin Hotel (Web Series), Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet (TV), Galavant (TV), The Magicians, Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV), Pitch Perfect (Movies), Danny Phantom, Helluva Boss (Web Series)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Additional Tags: Request book, Because I want to write stuff for people

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2MBJGUL

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #bmc #be more chill #boyf riends

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petite-dweeb · 8 years ago

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🤡Recording Mr Bungle 🤡 "By 1992 Danny was living in San Francisco and I remember Mike, Trey and I crashing on his couches in the Haight the whole time we were recording. What a drag. Trey had his car and we'd have to drive around looking for parking all night. Then we'd set up plastic army men on the mantle of Danny's living room and shoot them off with rubber-band guns. I also remember eating a lot of burritos and thai food. Our friend and fellow Eurkean Rob Green was hanging around and became obsessed with David Lynch's Blue Velvet so it was ALWAYS on in the lounge at the studio. Somehow we had befriended some guy who worked at the Mitchell Bros O'farrell Theater and he would get us in all the time for free. He cried when the drummer Eric Carr from Kiss died from Cancer. I subsequently befriended a couple of strippers who would hang out in the recording studio and say lewd things into the microphones for us. Trey and I really got a kick out of that. We were also friends with a band called “The Deli Creeps” whose guitar player went by the name of Buckethead. The singer, Maximum Bob, was a big fat guy who used to light his farts with matches. You can hear him chanting "over and over" at the end of My Ass Is On Fire. So, yeah, there were some weirdos hanging around." -Trevor Dunn

#Trevor Dunn #mr bungle

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ao3feed-wtnv · 5 years ago

Text

I now officially take oneshot requests!

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2MBJGUL

by SanderRohde

Comment down below what you want me to write!

Words: 154, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Additional Tags: Request book, Because I want to write stuff for people

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2MBJGUL

#fanfic #welcome to night vale #night vale #wtnv fanfic

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ao3feed-goodomens · 5 years ago

Text

I now officially take oneshot requests!

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2MBJGUL

by SanderRohde

Comment down below what you want me to write!

Words: 154, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Additional Tags: Request book, Because I want to write stuff for people

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2MBJGUL

#ao3feed #fanfic #Good Omens

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ao3feed-nightvale · 5 years ago

Text

I now officially take oneshot requests!

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2MBJGUL

by SanderRohde

Comment down below what you want me to write!

Words: 154, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Additional Tags: Request book, Because I want to write stuff for people

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2MBJGUL

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #Night Vale #Welcome to Night Vale #WTNV

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